Sound the Bugle
by Roselyne
Summary: Legolas grieves Aragorn after he fell from the cliff on their way to Helm Deep - Song fic


_Disclaimer: all characters from LOTR belong to Tolkien._

_Warning: this story covers some major event of LOTR 2. So this is spoiling, if you didn't see "the two towers" yet ;-)  [I saw it five times already ;p ]_

**~~~~~~~SOUND THE BUGLE~~~~~~~**

_Story by: Roselyne Marot_

_Song by: Bryan Adams_

"ARAGORN!!"

Legolas' voice was still echoing after the orc who delivered him the bad new, finally died. Legolas ran to the edge of the cliff, hoping that the orc had been wrong… Hoping Aragorn would still be alive… perhaps hanging desperately to the wall, waiting for someone to rescue him. That was what Legolas was hoping… He was fighting any other thoughts… He *needed* to believe Aragorn was still alive…

But no one was waiting for him on the wall of the cliff… Only the warg's corpse on the rocks, and the furious water of the river. Legolas felt like he was in a bad dream… A really bad dream that seemed so real… O so real…

Gimli reached his side, but Legolas barely realised it… He was feeling disconnected… This couldn't have happened…

_~~~ Sound the bugle now - play it just for me  
~~~ As the seasons change - remember how I used to be_

His face, once fair and joyful, was now paint with lines of immense sadness and horror. The despair in his eyes would have been too overwhelming for any who would have met his eyes. Yet Theoden who was reaching the edge of the cliff, saw… No creatures like him should ever feel that pain… ever!

  
_~~~ Now I can't go on - I can't even start  
~~~ I've got nothing left - just an empty heart_

He couldn't talk, couldn't breathe He looked like an abandoned child. He couldn't believe it was true… Trying to view the fight over and over in his mind. To discover what had gone wrong… How this could have happened… As if he could go back in time and correct it.

But no one could… 

Legolas was looking down at the river… Wondering if he could dive, would he get back Aragorn? No human would have survived such a fall… Then, Legolas wondered, could he at least go with him? 

His throat was tensed, as if someone was strangling him… He couldn't even voice out his cry of despair… For the first time he really felt grief. He thus realized how Aragorn had been important to him… He could still feel the cold metal of the Evenstar in his hand… He should *never* have felt this metal in his hand…

His heart now seemed empty… He felt like he was an empty shell, a shell that would collapse the next time someone would hit him slightly… 

And his heart shattered, at the very moment Theoden announced that they had to leave quickly, and leave the deads behind.

  
  
_~~~ I'm a soldier - wounded so I must give up the fight  
~~~ There's nothing more for me - lead me away,  
~~~ Or leave me lying here  
  
_

How Legolas had wished they had gone without him… that they had left him here, on this cliff, looking down the turmoil of the river that had taken Aragorn's life. 

And now, the river seemed to call him… Just a simple jump… That's all he needed…

But Theoden didn't let him go. A hand on his shoulder brought him back to the reality. He turned to the king, and saw that the man could feel his own sadness. And as he let Theoden lead him away from the cliff, Legolas felt that his blood was freezing inside of him, and that life itself was leaving this body.

How he would have wanted to lay down and cry… But he didn't even have enough strength for that…

  
_~~~ Sound the bugle now - tell them I don't care_

He didn't even remember how he reached Helm Deep, riding his horse with Gimli behind him. He had no memory of their journey from the cliff. He didn't talk, didn't look at the huge fortress, didn't hear the laughs of children, or the cries from the wives who didn't see their husbands coming back. Nothing was reaching him. He was just staring in front of him, with blind eyes.

This couldn't be true… This was a nightmare…It *had* to be!

He was going to wake up and Aragorn would be there, scolding him for sleeping with his eyes closed, the sign of a nightmare. Then Legolas would tell him about his dream. Gimli would laugh madly at 'the mad elf', but Aragorn would simply nod. And Legolas would never know if Aragorn really paid attention to his warning, or if he was thinking he was over that.

Like a puppet whose strings would be pulled by some upper being, Legolas dismounted his horse and gave the reins to one of the guards. Gimly passed before him to reach Lady Eowyn, and announce what had happen to Aragorn. 

Eowyn felt lost, but her pride forbid her to release any tear. Her eyes met inadvertently Legolas and she understood right away that her own feelings were mirrored in the elf, but not expressed the same way. Yet she didn't go to him, for she knew everybody needed to be alone in such a grief.

And Legolas stood in the middle of the place, not wiling to go anywhere. He didn't know Helm Deep, hadn't seen it before. Yet he wouldn't have reacted more had he known…

  
_~~~ There's not a road I know - that leads to anywhere_

He didn't even realize that he had started to follow the other soldiers into the castle. He was just reacting to the surrounding, without thinking; lost as he was in the elfish dream… Nothing could reach him… Almost nothing.

  
~~~_ Without a light I fear that I will - stumble in the dark  
~~~__ Lay right down - decide not to go on_

When Gimli came by his side, to see how he fared, Legolas merely lowered his empty eyes to his friend. And in the room they had been given by Theoden, Legolas simply sat by the window, staring at the moon on this cold and dark sky, and said nothing. There was nothing to be said. His life had ended on the cliff.

And now he was just waiting… Waiting for death to come… It would be probably long… But he just couldn't cry… Things would have probably better had he cried openly…  
  


And so went the night at helm deep. And the other nights and days that followed…

  
_~~~ Then from on high - somewhere in the distance  
~~~ There's a voice that calls - remember who you are_

He was standing in the hallway. Not moving. He had felt it.. He had felt something in the air when the red sun had appear in the dawn sky. Something was going to happen… Someone was arriving…

And there he was, standing in the hall and waiting… His eyes expressing finally something after all these days of wandering like a ghost.

And from a distance, he saw him! The familiar dark figure, walking with a determined pace in his direction. But Legolas didn't move or say anything, for fear the apparition would waver and vanish. He just stood there, silent, and waiting. 

Was he dreaming? Or was it real? Or was it the last vision he would have of this world? A vision to ease his departure?

But then the dark figure arrived at his level. The man was hurt and his clothes were torn, revealing fresh and old wounds, and he was absentmindedly tightening the straps of the leather protection of his forearm, and almost bumped into him. The dark figure made a slight jump backwards, surprised.

And saw Legolas observing him with a knowing smile and such intensity and such life in his eyes that they almost shined.

_~~~ If you lose yourself - your courage soon will follow_

For Aragorn, son of Arathorn had just come back from the path of the death, and so was the elf.

Few words were exchange between them, they weren't needed. Aragorn laid a warm hand on the elf's shoulder, and so did the elf. Like two old friends who had just been sent into different missions, in different places, and who had just returned from their scouting…

_~~~ So be strong tonight - remember who you are_

But then Legolas let go off all restraint, and threw himself into Aragorn's arms, putting his own arms around the ranger's neck, resting his fair face on Aragorn's shoulder, holding him tight  For fear that death would come again between them…

For it was so good to feel life again…

  
_~~~ You're a soldier now - fighting in a battle_

Legolas was standing near Aragorn on the wall of Helm Deep. His bow was ready to strike down all orcs and uruks that would be at shot range. He could see that their enemies' armours had weak points near the neck and under the arms. He transmitted the information to Aragorn to shouted the notice in elfish for all the archer.

And now, the thunder clashing constantly in the sky above them, a heavy rain pouring down on them, Legolas was standing and breathing Aragorn's presence, ready now to fight until the end like he had never fought before. He would do everything he could to push Death further away again 

  
_~~~ To be free once more_

It was their battle against the forces that would conquer their world.. and destroy their dreams… Annihilating everything they were… This battle had last too long… Now was the final time and Legolas was glad to be part of it, at Aragorn's side…

And if Death would come today, he wouldn't surrender easily, and would give everything he was, into the fight of his life… 

  
_~~~ That's worth fighting for_

He was not alone anymore…

**[the end]**

*****************

_My first song fic :,-)… *emotional tear, here*___

_I got this idea yesterday: I was writing "Legolas, the barbarian" in French, with that music in the background, running at the past where Legolas thinks Aragorn died from his fall in the cliff ("Legolas, the barbarian" covers LOTR 1 and 2. I'll translate it later ;-) )_

_I dunno what you think, but those who saw the movie… don't you think the words are matching how Legolas could feel?_

_Eventually, listen to the music (it's Bryan Adams') while reading it, it helps ;-)  _

_I just hope now my English wasn't too terrible^^;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;_


End file.
